Nominee in Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category

Nominee in the Contemporary Music category

“… A Chester Mystery Play (Lorne ys my Likinge), poems by CP Cavafy (in Impossible Things) and reportage and interviews about immigration and workplace conditions provide a widely varied libretto, which Muhly knits together with characteristic empathy, and his Brittenish writing for piano and voice is suffused with warmth and bleakness. The clarity of Phan’s singing and, on Lorne ys my Likinge, that of the countertenor Reginald Mobley, gives the texts emotional force.” ****

“… a restrained, arresting song-cycle that benefits from an equally unobtrusive performance by Brooklyn Rider. Stranger nevertheless attains much of its subtle power and coherence through Phan’s distinctive performance, whose voice shifts from the almost clipped, newsreel-like intonation of the opening and end sequences of the cycle to more dramatic and full-toned lyrical moments in between…”

Performance ****      Recording ****

“… Phan, on splendidly expressive form, is well matched by violinist Colin Jacobsen and chamber collective The Knights.”

“… Muhly has set these sometimes mysterious, sometimes very direct texts to music very dramatically and imaginatively, giving equally important parts to the orchestra as well as the soloists. Phan and violinist Colin Jacobsen interpret the music very expressively, very rhetorically, so ending an album that guarantees a gripping listening experience and, first and foremost, once again shows Nicholas Phan to be an outstanding singer with clear diction and impeccable vocal delivery who excels in the song repertoire.” *****